Phantom has a power he refuses to use in front of any other hero.
Not because it's too powerful or anything like that.
No.
No, because while he can't hear it, apparently Ghostly Wail sounds like the screams of loved ones dying. It's his death scream, but it distorts when others hear it.
Instead of him, they hear their loved ones.
So no, he's not hiding it because of an 'Oh the darkness inside of me you wouldn't understand, this pain I bear' middle schooler syndrome thing, he's hiding it because that's really, really fucked up.
Until one day, he and another hero are in a trap.
The villain has accounted for everything, all of their powers or gadgets, except the Wail.
So.
Danny turns, looks at the other hero, and gives him an apologetic look.
Then, he turns to the villain, and lets out the Wail.
Organ transplants save lives. Danny has a saving people thing and a bunch of organs he doesn’t need. Put them together and what do you got? Chaos.
Ok so I’ve seen 2 versions of Corpse AU. One where there’s just the one body from his original death, and one where he leaves a corpse every time he goes ghost.
So for the first version, Danny decided he wanted to be an organ donor before the accident. Then he dies, and his body is found before he could figure out how to turn back human and hide cover it all up. Danny is declared dead and his organs are given to compatible patients.
This is where it gets interesting. Everyone thinks Danny is dead. Heck, even Danny thinks he’s dead. Before all this he didn’t think ghosts were even real so who’s to say they don’t have the ability to mimic life? That sounds like something his parents would believe evil ghosts could do. He figures he’s just a ghost with the ability to pretend to be alive. But that feels mean and cruel. Everyone already knows he’s dead so what’s the point in pretending otherwise? Danny doesn’t want to be like the evil ghosts his parents speak of. So now he’s just Phantom. Only Sam and Tucker who saw it happen know that Phantom is the ghost of their friend Danny.
(Huh kinda like a reverse “no one knows” AU. Instead of being secretly dead, he’s secretly alive.)
Meanwhile the patients who received the organs of Danny Fenton are experiencing weird symptoms. Because technically, each and every one of them is both part Halfa and also a living grave to the Halfa who made them so. And a ghost always knows where their grave is. They can feel if it is desecrated. So what does it mean that Danny’s grave is a bunch of people? A bunch of people he never met, people whose lives he saved, people who are now mysteriously developing ghost powers after their operations. Phantom knows where each of these strangers are at all times and he can feel if they are in danger.
Does this turn into a religion? A cult? Do any of the organ recipients resent what they have become? Who begins to investigate why people are developing ghost powers? SHIELD? Justice League Dark? MACUSA? (ETC Insert crossover of your choice here) or just the plain old GIW?
It would make an interesting story no matter what you pick.
Now on to the second version. Danny dies and leaves behind a corpse every time he goes ghost. That adds up to a lot of bodies. A lot of organs. A lot of lives he could save. And also a lot of evidence to hide.
Like damn, not only is Danny a teenage vigilante dealing with school and bullies and crazy ghosts and ghost hunting parents and a frootloop godfather, but he also on top of all that, has to dispose of a ton of bodies. Sam and Tucker are great at stuffing dead Danny into closets whenever a ghost attacks but he isn’t gonna make them dig graves with him.
Vlad has his own crematorium but like hell is Danny gonna ask him for help. Besides, it just feels like such a waste. People die every day waiting for organ transplants and he’s just throwing them away. But Danny is only 14. He can’t start his own shady medical practice or black alley organ trade. Sure, maybe when he’s older he will make his own organization so that he can make sure things are run as ethically and safely as possible. But for now? He can’t do that.
Tucker goes onto the dark web to find criminals who deal in organs. Sam uses her rich girl skills to bargain and set up the business. Danny works on the practicals for times and pipeline of shipments. And now there’s a new owner of the ice-cream shop. Sam and Tucker have keys to the giant cooler there. “Ice cream” trucks stop by frequently to make pick ups.
Sam, Tucker and Danny are making bank. Danny does feel guilty that the money is coming from people so desperate they’re willing to buy black market organs, but he at least knows that he’s saving people. And he figures that every organ he donates is one less that the criminals would just steal out of some poor victim’s body. He donates most of his money and keeps what he can pass off as savings from odd jobs. Tucker invests his share. Sam doesn’t need the cash but she puts some away in an emergency fund in case they need to go on the run.
Now as before, the fun comes from the consequences of all this. Do some superheroes bust the organ smuggling ring and the huge quantity of merchandise leads them to suspect human trafficking? Do they realize the organs are all genetically identical and conclude it’s byproducts of a cloning facility? Is this how they find out that Danny really is a clone of one of the superheroes? Do the transplants still give ghost powers and are people clamoring to get one even if they don’t need a transplant? Is some villain (HYDRA, LoA insert crossover here) making an army of super ghost powered soldiers?
Loki, the Sky Walker himself, when he fell beyond the trees branches but before that Purple fucker could get him... felt A path, much like the hidden ones he'd wandered for YEARS, and franticly tries to catch himself.
After all, he let go in a moment of incredible emotional distress. But that moment passes. The fear kicks in. The natural, strategist's, "survival at all costs" primal drive starts SCREAMING. You grab for the ledge. Try to STOP your fall.
But~!
What if? What he was FEELING?
Was a Natural Fuckin Portal.
And Loki is no slouch! He manages to change his trajectory. His mind is still in shambles, he's an emotional wreck, mascara probably running, just? Having THE WORST month or so of his life. He's too pretty for this bullshit, he would insist, if he wasn't FALLING THROUGH THE VOID.
He's made some choices.
They may have been ill advised.
Possibly even terrible ideas, actually.
But he's come too far to die NOW. And if his brother's insane adventures and hare brained schemes haven't killed him, then THIS sure as shit won't be putting him in an graves. He refuses to allow it.
He expects to slam face first into alien dirt. At speed. It? Is going to HURT, he knows.
But that is not what happens.
He passes through a yawning portal, into Veridian skys, and slams face first into the back of passing youth. Knock BOTH of them from the sky and through several nearby floating islands.
He nearly gets punched for it.
The boy only stopping, fist merely moments from his faces, when he seems to finally register the state Loki is in. The next thing Loki knows? He's being rushed off Yeti healers. A FUSS is being made.
The youth is strong arming him into being a guest in his... frankly ALARMING home.
Loki likes the Gothic one. She seems like she bites. But the boy's parents BAFFLE him. The boy, "Danny" just? Showed up with him? And declared he was a "visiting Fenton Cousin"? SURELY that can not WORK! Boy, they are your PARENTS, they know better then YOU who is and is not rela-.....
How did that work.
No, HOW DID THAT WORK? Child answer me. And explain the violent cold meats.
Just? Loki, intellectually stimulated, like a cat in a fresh new environment. Removed from stressors. Not the strongest being around by far, but enjoying the challenge none the less. Fulfilling his life long trained role of "king's advisory" in an almost relaxed Highly Sarcastic Uncle On Vacation Who Is Also A Semi-Feral Cat sorta way to this new Child King he found.
Loved and respected for Being Loki. Just Loki. No preconceived notions to fulfill, no roles he must play, just... Be Loki.
Best part? Asgard and Thor and such? Irrelevant! Their own closed system far, far away. He's finally FREE of the shadow Asgard casts. He's taken "starting over in a new country to escape a toxic home life" to a whole new weight class unique just to him. The dude is THRIVING.
Frostbite is Laufey and the rest of the Far Frozen is the ghosts of the Jotun.
Danny meets the Avengers (Loki is long since redeemed and works with them), sees Loki, and remembers a message from his Doctor and friend.
"Hey, uh, my Ghost Doctor wanted me to tell you something," Danny told Loki awkwardly.
"Yes?" Loki responds, raising an eyebrow.
"He's no longer angry. He understands why you did what you did," Danny repeats. Then, seeing the confused faces and remembering something else, he adds, "Oh, and he gave me permission to use his old, living name. He said his name was Laufey. Anyway, he says if you ever wish to talk things out, to ask me and I'll take you to him."
"Does he treat you well as a healer?" Thor asks on behalf of his shook brother.
"Oh, yeah! We're actually really good friends," Danny assures, beaming. ".... My ghost half has even started looking more like him and the others."
Loki's eyes widen. "Show me ..... Please."
Danny does so, hoping this will ease the tension.
His new form has blue-black skin, constellations on his skin *Danny explains the space stuff is one of his Obsessions shining through*, and ice growing from his head in almost a crown shape, the ACTUAL Ghost King crown on his head with the Ring of Rage on his finger.
Loki is trying to catch his breath. This child looks almost similar to Laufey, PROVING the child's claim that Laufey has calmed is true.
Phantom: They've been looking for sponsors, but due to their work related to the paranormal...
Ironman: Let me guess... the science community think they are quacks.
Phantom: As goofy as they are, they are not quacks. Exhibit A... Phantom points at himself.
Ironman: ......
Phantom: looks away, feeling the judgemental stare. It was my fault, I went into failed portal and accidentally turned it on from the inside. Suuuure, they shouldn't have put the on and off switch on said thing... but I'm still alive! Ish. Half. Details.
Ironman: Have you told them? About....?
Phantom: I have. They tore down the house and redid it to make sure it no longer locks into my exto-signature. Along with redoing their life's work... which is why I'm hoping you could help? Sponser them?
Ironman: You know what. After helping me deal with that Techie Ghost dude, I'll help. In one condition.
Later....
Tony Stark: Peter! I have a new friend for you! He likes space!
Much later... Tony regrets ever introducing Peter to Danny.
(Been a bit since I did an Ennead AU or Prompt, huh)
They had been… Shattered, torn apart, barely developed cores ripped from still living bodies left spasming and rotting, consciousness frayed and trapped in the shards. Had been pulled apart further, warped until they could barely remember what they were before, flashes of separate memories coming together to form knowledge they did not like.
They had… found each other, less alive and dead than before, only continuing to exist from the saturation of the surrounding ecto. Had cobbled themselves together, nine becoming four then two, then one singular core.
One being of Nine, dripping blood, dripping gore and viscera of the living, hair still grasped in their claws as they dropped a head. They were many, yet one, all of them buzzing around each other like the circling of planets.
Hands flex, the movement, feeling of living flesh novel to their senses. Senses that confirmed what they had long dreaded. They were the last- the others gone, dead, shattered beyond hope. They hope it was painless, even as they knew it was not. The scientists never cared about how much pain they caused, only that they got results.
Where were their results now? Where were their weapons and torture that they were so proud of? It didn’t protect them, and the Nine that were One couldn’t help the laugh. What use was freedom when everyone was gone? When they could feel reality breaking apart from the unbalance that even their power was useless in correcting?
The dead and the living, the living and the dead, always chasing after the other in an endless cycle. Now broken, shattered like them, yet unable to be put back together.
They laughed, a broken, croaking, sobbing sound as they grieved for those whose names they could no longer remember. Who were now Nothing, no name to be whispered to the stars, no grave for a mutilated corpse to be lowered. Only chunks of gore tossed aside when their torturers were done, discarded like waste.
What else is there to do, but Wail, to let out their fury and grief and anguish into the void even as the world crumbles around them? What else is left but to drift as the abyss trails ever-hungry. There’s no more Ancients, no more Humans, nor more Life, and no Death to claim them.
So they are left adrift, tails lifeless, form shifting between Beast and Other as time escapes them. For there is no Time, no Space, not here, not in this emptiness where even the Infinite would not dare touch. How long they drifted, wandered, they did not, do not, know.
Yet they know the moment something disturbs their aimless wandering, the fuzzy, sputtering feeling trying to wrap around a wrist. They stare, even if they see nothing, heads tilting and twisting as they whisper amongst themselves. What is it, they wonder, the sensation something strange and unfamiliar compared to the ever-starving feeling that had long since become normal.
So they let it take hold, it would never have succeeded otherwise, and they open their eyes not in the Nothing, but to the Sun.
(Been a while so have some of the art I did of the Ennead lol)
(In dragon form the main body goes from the head/neck colors to a black while the underbelly is iridescent- Also yes there's a torn opening on their chest like a wound or maw) (Humanoid form is about 15' and dragon form varies around 200' or larger)
I want to see Flash "Spidermans Biggest Fan" Thompson and Dash "Phantoms Biggest Fan" Baxter arguing over who's the best superhero with Peter and Danny in the background and recognizing the "my number one bully is also my alter egos number one fan with the most obvious gay crush in the world" awkwardness in each other. Or just Peter feeling so unsettled the moment Danny gets irritated.
Bonus point for a secondary argument that is based on "my hometown is both better than yours and more of an absolute hell scape" that drags in everyone
One he hasn't told any other Avengers, one he kept as far from SHIELD as possible, and a little ace up his sleeve incase shit ever hit the fan. Part of him wanted nothing more than to show off his secret, to brag about what he had found and make sure they knew that this Ace was his. But he also knew this 'Ace' was a kid - a kid younger than even Spiderman with the weight of a whole dimension and a town on his shoulders. Tony didn't need to bother him or show him off like some kind of award when the team still gave him shit about having Spiderman around.
But then shit hit the fan.
A fight. A massive fight with casualities everywhere. They were running out of options, running out of fight, running out of give.
Tony sounded the alarm for Phantom then sighed.
"Hey, uh... Phantom Incoming."
"Phantom? What the hell? Who is Phantom? What is Phantom?" Hawkeye started asking.
"Don't ask questions, Barton just get the hell away from the middle of the fight, all of you."
"Oh god it's a weapon. It's a super weapon. You're going to kill us all." Spiderman grumbled anxiously as Tony watched the trackers on the members of his team indicate that they were quickly leaving the area.
"What is the blast radius on this?" Black Widow was quick to ask.
"Yes." Tony said which wasn't reassuring to anybody.
The shift in the air was instant and tony silently hoped that he'd given the team enough warning as a portal ripped open in the middle of the battle field and a wave of green shot out. Enemies were toppled, trees were uprooted and frantic voices could be heard all around them.
Tony opened his mask, seeing a small white haired figure in the middle. "KID! YOU'RE CLEAR! IF THEY'RE NOT IN SPANDEX THEY'RE NOT OUR FRIENDS!" He shouted then flew off.
The echoed wail that followed seconds later while the rest of the team watched from a safe distance as the enemy was taken down (but not killed, Phantom wouldn't kill anybody if he could help it which did mean clean up would be a hassle).
"Now I know what you meant when you said the blast radius is 'yes'." Hawkeye said as the rest of the team nodded.
